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The Hyacinthaceae family (sensu APG II) is found in southern Africa, one of the major areas of growth and has approximately three hundred and sixty-eight species. It consists of four subfamilies, the Hyacinthoideae, Urgineoideae, Ornithogaloideae and Oziroeoideae. The Hyacinthoideae subfamily occurs mainly in southern Africa and is the largest out of the four sub-families, consisting of nearly two hundred regional members. The members of the Hyacinthoideae subfamily are recorded to be used as traditional medicines to treat hangovers, fractures, teething, syphilis and many other conditions by the southern African people. In this work, Pseudoprospero firmifolium (Baker) Speta subsp. natalensis, Resnova humifusa (Baker) U. & D. M. -D., Eueomis vandermerwei Verd., Eueomis zambesiaea Baker and Eueomis bicolor Baker were investigated for their chemical constituents. A total of forty- three compounds were isolated, of which fifteen compounds were novel. Pseudoprospero firmifolium yielded two homoisoflavonoids and a spirocyclic nortriterpenoid, Resnova humifusa yielded four homoisoflavonoids, one chalcone and a tetrahydropyran derivative, Eueomis vandermerwei yielded four homoisoflavonoids, Eueomis zambesiaea yielded five homoisoflavonoids and three spirocyclic nortriterpenoids and Eueomis bieolor yielded four homoisoflavonoids, six spirocyclic nortriterpenoids, a pentanortriterpenoid, a tetranortriterpenoid, a lanostane derivative and nine triterpenoid glycoside derivatives. The structures of these compounds were fully characterised using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, circular dichroism and optical rotational measurements. The homoisoflavonoid types of compounds are known for their anti-inflammatory activity. Therefore, the homoisoflavonoids that were isolated from this study were tested for their COX-2 inhibition. Also, most of the compounds isolated from this study were submitted to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to be tested against 59 different human tumour cell lines.

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Herbal medicine is now globally accepted as an authenticated alternative system of therapy in the form of pharmaceuticals, functional foods, and nutraceuticals; a trend recognized and supported by the World Health Organization (WHO). For decades herbal drugs have shown to be promising for a number of diseases and their use has been supported by physicians and patients for their improved therapeutic benefits as they have less adverse effects when compared with many modern medicines. In this thesis, it was decided to explore the therapeutic potential of n- hexane, DCM and methanol crude extracts from the Nigella sativa plant obtained by using novel Soxhlet extraction. The studies have been conducted on the antibacterial activity of these crude extracts of Nigella sativa and also demonstrated the in vitro antitumour potential of the above crude extracts of the plant. The results indicated that hexane extract of Nigella sativa seeds showed the most potent antibacterial and antitumour activity. The research also aimed at designing novel drug delivery systems for herbal constituent. Lipid emulsion (Intralipid) as a drug carrier was selected to carry the hexane extract obtained from one Soxhlet cycle extraction from the Nigella sativa seeds and determined its antitumour effects. This herbal formulation was investigated using both in vitro and in vivo target systems. Both, in vitro and in vivo findings showed that the Intralipid could carry the active ingredient(s) of the hexane extract across the filtered membrane and the drug carrier (IL) showed the minimal toxicity. Furthermore, the possibility of using ultrasound to enhance the cytotoxicity of the herbal drug formulation was explored using both in vivo and in vitro target system. The results suggested that ultrasound enhanced the therapeutic potential of the antitumour herbal drug in both the systems.

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